The semi-random thoughts and musings of my daily life... written, literally, from the laptop on my kitchen table.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

The Making of a Medallion

The finished medallion. It's gracing the wall above the toilet in our hall bathroom. I'm happy to get something in there decor-wise because the walls have been bare-nekked for way too long!

Step 1: Choose your paper. I chose to get an old book with yellowedpages that I could cut apart. I got this study guide for smart kids whowant to get into a prep school and hang out with other smart kids for $2 at Goodwill. You could also use magazine pages, copy paper, craftpaper... just about any paper you like that has enough body to hold acone shape.

Step 2: Tear out pages. I didn't really count, but I'm guessing I usedsomewhere round about 50 pages. I made sure I had text printed onboth sides because I wanted that look but you can tailor that to yourown personal tastes.

Step 3: Cut the pages down to squares. I used the full width so I just hadto trim about 1 1/2 inches from the bottom to make a square. If you wantsmaller cones, cut smaller squares. It's that simple... and really, there are nohard and fast rules.

Step 4: Cut a disk from cardboard. I had a big piece of clean corrugatedcardboard that had been used as packing to protect the top of our kitchentable during shipping when we bought it last summer so that is what I used.I wanted a finished medallion that was about 24" so I started with a 12-inchcircle - exactly size of our dinner plates! It was nice having something easyto trace... And a box cutter or exacto knife would have been a better choiceto cut it out, but Derek took that from the toolbox for something a few daysago and didn't put it back. And I decided to just fight it out with the craftscissors instead of hunting down the box cutter. It was hard on my fingersand didn't give me nice crisp edges, so I'd say it's probably not the best bitof strategic thought I've ever had to go with the scissors on this.

Step 5a: You're going to need a way to hang it on the wall when you're doneand I've found it's easiest (on you and the medallion) to add a loop of yarnnow. Just use a yarn needle and punch through. If you want to be all fancyschmancy you could use ribbon or picture wire or maybe you have an evenbetter idea?

Step 5b: The hanging loop is on the other side and the ends are poking outhere. I tied these off in a secure knot and then hot glued them down as flatas I could.

Step 5c: Cover the side with the glued down knots with some of the paperyou'll be using for the cones. Trim the paper flush with the disk (I hadn'tdone this yet when I snapped the picture). This has ended up being a not-really-necessary step both times I've made a medallion but I do it anyway, just in case. My thought was I didn't want bits of cardboard to show through any gaps in the cones when I glued them down. Plus I think ithelps secure the hanging loop.

Step 6: Now you're going to get back to all those square pieces you cut andform them into cones. Secure on both edges with a bit of glue. The first fewalways seem very awkward to me but then I get the hang of it again and it goesnot just faster but I get a more consistent shape.

Step 7: Glue the cones down to the disk starting with the outside row. LikeI said, I wanted to finish at 24-inches so I cut a disk that was 12 and gluedthe cones down so that 6-inches extended past the cardboard all the wayaround. Don't worry about the little spaces between them. They will befilled in when you put the next rows on. This is part way through row 1.(Note: I used hot glue for this whole project. I think it is the best choiceto be able to hold everything together quickly. But realize that when theynamed it hot glue they meant HOT glue. It will burn you! Possiblyseverely. So be very careful!! And keep your kids away while youare working on this project.)

And this is part way through row 2. See the gaps filling in? Just keep addingcones in concentric circular rows. Pull the edge of the cones inward slightlywith each new round. To do that you'll need to start trimming off the pointyend of each cone after row 2 and finally in the center, just nestle them in inwhatever direction you can fit them.